Hoarse
by macrauchenia
Summary: "Razer frowned as his hands flew to the base of his neck. He tried to speak again, but nothing apart from a hoarse gasp was pulled from his throat. He had lost the ability to speak." After a mission goes badly, one of the members of the Interceptor crew seems to have quite a serious case of "cat got your tongue." -Pre-Loss- -ThreeShot-


**Timeframe/Info About This Fic: **In between "Prisoner of Sinestro" and "Loss"  
**Disclaimer:** Green Lantern: TAS belongs to its respected creators who have a great deal of love for making people cry in agony and roll around on the floor in tears of anguish and rage around the world. GIAAAAAANNNNCCCCAAARRRRRLLLL OOOOOOO!  
**Authors Note: **Oh, gosh. I still feel like I will never recover after that episode. My heart will never be whole again D': So, I decided to try to write something humourous-which I never actually do xD Sorry if this is crappy. This will be a three-shot, just to let you guys know. Thanks for reading!

* * *

There was nothing out of the ordinary that day on the Interceptor, nor was there any indication that something strange was happening outside in deep space. Hal would know, seeing as he checked the proximity scanner every five minutes and the transmission wires every two. With every glance at the computers and seeing nothing, Hal would sigh loudly, not unlike a bored child. He knew he was annoying his teammates, but either they were too polite not to say anything, or they too were equally bored. He wasn't sure where Kilowog was—probably sleeping—and Razer was over in his corner, glaring out the window. Since their latest adventure and Razer nearly suffocated, the Red Lantern had been moodier than usual. Aya merely observed the human with her wide, blue eyes, trying to comprehend what this human disease of "boredness" was and how it was killing Green Lantern Hal, as he kept complaining.

"Your vitals seem to be fine, Green Lantern Hal," Aya interrupted Hal's mindless daydreaming with her calculating tone.

"Wha?" Hal straightened up.

The Artificial Intelligence tilted her head. "Repeatedly you complained about being 'bored to death,' but I believe you will recover. There are no signs that your body has taken on a fatal disease."

Hal paused for a second before letting out a loud laugh. Even Razer's frosty expression thawed a little bit at the AI's naïve observation. After a moment of chuckling from the human Green Lantern, he composed himself and assured Aya that he wasn't in any physical danger—the phrase was merely an Earth exaggeration. Nodding once in understanding and relief, Aya turned back to her sensors, her sharp blue eyes scanning everything to make sure it was in check.

At this moment, the Bolavixian decided to make his entrance. Pulling at his yawning mouth with large hand, Kilowog all but threw himself in the nearest chair and leaned back with a sigh.

"I don't know what yer complain' about, Jordan," he sighed rather contentedly. "I think it's kinda nice to take a break for once. No arrogant hotheads from Oa, no ex-cons from the Spider Guild prison." Both Hal and Razer each gave him a slightly sour look for absently describing them as well. Kilowog, on the other hand, did not receive these glares due to the fact that he had his eyes closed again, painting the picture of perfect bliss.

Hal rolled his eyes, resting his chin in the palm of one of his hands. He had already beaten himself in Solitaire fourteen times and nine times in Pong. Razer wasn't the most cheery conversationalist, it was too complicated to explain Earth games to Aya, and Hal was banned from asking Kilowog to spend any free time with him ever since that one fiasco regarding a real-life game of Minesweeper and a raging planet of buried, mutant rabbits. "It's just…there's nothing to _do_," Hal sighed, his voice taking on a slight whine, like that of a spoiled brat.

"Was patience not a virtue that your Guardians stressed all ring bearers should have?" Razer asked dryly, responding with a sarcastic eye roll of his own.

While Hal shrugged good-naturedly, Kilowog let out a short bark. "It _is. _Apparently they were too desperate to _not_ let this Poozer to pick up a ring."

The two Green Lanterns continued to bicker playfully back and forth as Razer resumed his halfway window gazing and Aya focused with a frown on her screens.

A persistent buzzing filled the room, as did a pulsing red light. Aya glanced over at her comrades with a focused frown. "I am sorry to disrupt your peace, Green Lantern Kilowog, but there is an unidentifiable object coming towards the Interceptor at high speeds."

"Hostile?" Hal asked eagerly.

Aya studied her screens for a second before replying. "It possesses something that my scanners have identified as potentially dangerous to our green energy."

"What?"

Aya pressed a few buttons and held her palm to the circuit board, but the buzzing did not stop. "I have attempted to send pulses of green energy at the foreign object in order to change its course, but will not redirect its path." The Green Lantern paused. "It seems to be destroying the charges."

"So we're dealing with something that can absorb or destroy Aya's power charges? Our rings might not work against it either. _Great. _You just _had_ to open your big mouth, didn't you Jordan…"

Hal simply grinned. "This is great. Now we have something to do."

"Approximate interception time: thirty seconds."

While Kilowog climbed heavily to his feet with a disappointed sigh, Razer stood up lithely and made his way to the loading dock door, waiting to be called into battle by Hal. Instead of beating Razer to the door, Hal was hovering over Aya, frowning down at the screen. If he squinted and sort of closed one eye, he could barely discern the shape of a figure out of the glowing red lights that surrounded the pulsing symbol.

"Whatever it is—it looks like it may be alive." Hal straightened up. "Maybe it isn't hostile. Let's try to confront peacefully it before it thinks that we—Argh!" Before Hal could finish off his sentence, their thirty seconds ran out, and the object crashed directly into the Interceptor. The force would have thrown Aya from her chair had the robot not braced for contact a mere second earlier. Hal shuffled forward awkwardly, hitting into the beeping dashboard in front of him with a grunt and a "that can't be good" as Kilowog nearly tumbler over, grasping at a surprisingly stable Razer for help.

Straining to keep the Sergeant upright while trying to lose his own balance, Razer glanced quickly across at each of the shaken Green Lanterns. He felt fine, but it looked as if the others were a bit upside down.

"How come you didn't get knocked down, Red? You can't be stronger than us," Kilowog scoffed, undraping himself from a grunting Razer.

Razer rotated his sore shoulder with another grunt and sent a withering glare at Kilowog. "Perhaps I am more graceful than you."

"A more likely reason," Aya started, rapping across the keyboard with her slender fingers, "is that whatever hit the Interceptor is able to weaken the power of Green Lanterns. The ship is experiencing an irregular energy fluxion, not unlike when Green Lanterns are faced with the unidentified yellow mineral."

Hal's narrowed eye slits were scouring the window, searching for whatever hit his ship. "Is she still functioning?"

"Yes. However, some systems are temporarily nonoperational due to the close proximity of the foreign object."

"Any crucial ones down?"

"Weapons have been disarmed. Life support may also not be wor—" The moment she started her sentence, the automatic life support functions on the Lantern's rings sprang into effect. First Kilowog was surrounded in the bright green glow, followed closely by Hal. After a moment's pause, Razer too was soon engulfed in a foggy cloud of red. He suppressed a relieved breath, glad to know that this time he wasn't in danger of suffocating.

"I take it that life support is down?" Hal offered with a tilted smile.

Aya nodded. "Yes, whatever hit us seemed to attack just that. Other ship functions are still functioning."

Kilowog's eyes glanced backwards subconsciously at the empty prison cell. "Perhaps it's a Spider Guild rogue? Someone who survived the explosion and wants the prisoner back, dead or alive? Maybe he has the same idea Sinestro had that killing the life support would take down Neuroxas." He finished this with a dismissive shrug.

Hal frowned. "No, I don't think so…" Suddenly a shape darted in front of the window, causing everyone to jump slightly. It was alive, at least that was what they could assume, zipping back and forth the window with a nasty expression on its toothy face. "Time to go," Hal's expression tightened further. He glanced back at the red, flashing buttons on the dashboard. "Aya, you come too. There's no point for you to stay on the ship, and we may need your assistance."

The AI nodded, and the four Lanterns flew out of the loading dock door in a tight, diamond transformation. They stopped short when their visitor soon came into their sights, cackling loudly and holding something large in his small nine arms.

"Greeeeeeen Lanterns," sneered the figure in a raspy voice. There seemed to be too many teeth in his mouth, for he didn't seem to be able to close it all the way, leaving his mouth in a permanent toothy grimace. "Yooooou," he drawled out, "are the reason my life is ruuuuuuined."

Hal frowned, glancing over at Kilowog with a "what did _we_ do this time?" expression. "Look, Mr. ah, Smiles, I'm sorry that, uh, your life is ruined because of us. But I can assure you that whatever happened to you was purely an accident," he called at the sizzling creature hovering a few hundred feet above him. "We aren't like those other Green Lanterns—we can help you get back your old life." Mr. Smiles merely gnashed his teeth together and made strange hissing sounds.

Kilowog leaned forward to whisper in Hal's ear. "Jordan—I'm not too sure this guy is completely sane. Maybe we should just get back on the Interceptor and get out of here."

Razer crossed his arms, giving a disdainful and unimpressed look at the spitting villain in front of them. "I agree with the Bolavixian. Clearly this creature does not possess a single rational thought. It is dangerous."

One of the human's eyebrows rose significantly. "Though I think you both are right, we still have to find out what he has that took out our life support. Besides, we also should try to help him. Y'know, Green Lantern code and all that stuff."

"I know, Jordan," Kilowog grumbled, accompanied by an eye roll.

Just then a flash of yellow exploded from the floating figure and raced towards the four Lanterns. Razer, who had still been watching the interloper the entire time, was the first to react.

"Look out!" he shouted, forcing himself in front of the others and shooting forth a red construct from his ring. The yellow beam collided forcefully with the shield, causing the Red Lantern to jerk backwards from the impact. By then, the others had also reacted. Kilowog tried to make a supplement shield, but it only disintegrated the moment it touched the yellow ray. With a grunt, Razer finally lost control and his shield shattered into a thousand shards of red light. Luckily he was able to buy enough time for the others to get out of direct path of the beam, and Hal was able to drag the young man out of the way just in time.

"Thanks," Razer gasped out, his sides heaving from the effort of maintaining the construct against the powerful beam.

"No problem," Hal replied with a warm smile. "I should be the one to thank you." Razer nodded once, returning the smile with a slight upward twitch of his lip.

"I have found the source of his power," Aya stated from a few meters away. The beam had split the Lanterns into two groups—Hal and Razer were relatively out in the open, while Kilowog and Aya were pressed against the smooth white outsides of the ship. "He possesses a weapon of some sort that has the ability to produce powerful waves that negate the power of Green Lantern rings."

Hal squinted up at villain. Sure enough, he was waving around some sort of ray gun that periodically released yellow flashes. "Alright—do we make a run for it, or do we try to fight?"

Aya frowned. "According to my data, the yellow pulse is extremely dangerous to those of us who possess green energy. It has the ability to completely shut down the user."

Kilowog nodded sagely next to Aya. "I'm bettin' that's why the Interceptor's life support went off—the weapons too. The ray treated it like an actual GL."

"Death ray or no death ray—there's no way we're going to let him escape. That kind of technology could be lethal if it falls into more, uh, capable hands. We need to get it from Mr. Smiles _now."_

"How do you suppose we do that?" Razer remarked dryly, throwing a hand in the direction of the maniac. "If any of you go near it, you'll be in danger of being blasted." He paused for a moment. "Aya especially is in danger since she is comprised _only _of green energy," he added in a much softer voice.

Hal grinned. "No need to look so negative, Razer. I've got a plan."

* * *

"So, Mr. Smiles, why do you hate the Greeeeeen Lanterns so much?" Hal shouted up with a taunting grin. His smile grew as the frustrated foe grounded his teeth together with incoherent shrieking. Mr. Smiles shot off another blast from this death gun, but due to his fury, the beam missed Hal by at least five feet.

"If they locked ya up, it probably was for a good reason. Maybe so they didn't have to see your stinkin' face all the time," Kilowog added with a graceful twirl that barely skimmed over another dangerous beam. Both of the Green Lanterns continued to taunt the maniac and barely flying out of the path of the deadly yellow laser. They were doing a rather excellent job at distracting him—

Giving Razer just enough time to take the long way towards the toothy creature without being spotted. This _is the plan of Hal Jordan. To use himself and Kilowog as bait while I "hit 'im from behind." _Razer suppressed a sigh. He was at least relieved to note that Hal had forbidden Aya from acting as bait—instead keeping her as a secondary gun for when Razer took out the threatening ray gun. The extremely vulnerable Aya was as safe as she could be—waiting in the shadow of the Interceptor. Razer was a bit disturbed by the steadily strengthening feelings in his gut for the Artificial Intelligence, but he decided to do what he always did when faced with tough emotions—he forced them back down into some desolate hole in his heart. He wisely focused back on the mission at hand, although there was little to really watch. As expected, Jordan and the Sergeant were darting around, the former looking as if he truly were having the time of his life while dodging death beams.

_Jordan seems like more a child than I, yet he still insists upon calling me "kid." _Razer quipped not quite irritably. He stopped in midair, waiting for the opportune moment to shoot. He curled his ring hand into a tight fist and let loose a burst of crimson red. It spiraled through the air, knocking the gun from "Mr. Smiles'" hands and pulling a furious cry from the villain. However, Razer's triumphant smirk slipped as he noticed the side effect of his attack. Although the blast did knock the gun from the toothy monster and sent him spiraling backwards, it set the gun on a setting that was dangerous enough to cause the gun to start beeping furiously.

"_No,_" Razer grunted, speeding towards the gun with hopes of shutting it off before it self-destructed or did something equally bad. He was still a few meters away when a huge burst of gold tore from the gun's mouth. The beam's thickness was almost three times as large as the previous bursts. Because the device was still turning lazily from the excess energy of being blasted from Mr. Smiles, it didn't shoot straight for the Green Lanterns. Instead it curved slowly towards the Interceptor—_and Aya._Along the path of the gradually traveling beam was also two exhausted Green Lanterns. Razer knew they saw it coming, judging from the grim expressions of concentration on either of their faces, but the Red Lantern also knew that they were too tired to try to move right away, and they were calculating their escape for a smaller, thinner beam. This upcoming beam would certainly decimate them before either of them could break through.

Razer stopped midair, gritting his teeth as he tried to come up with a way to save everybody. For some reason, the memory of when he saved the Lanterns before at the Spider Guild prison entered his head. Then the Green Lanterns were incapacitated by the yellow rock—which Razer assumed probably wasn't much different from the beam—but he had been perfectly fit to fight with his powers.

_I should be able to use my ring still. The beam shouldn't affect me since I'm not a Green Lantern._

Taking a deep breath to summon his strength, he all but flew into the yellow beam. Creating a smaller, more compact shield, Razer was able to form a sort of cascade effect as the golden beams rushed by him like a waterfall. The individual shards of golden light were far too small to cause the others any trouble. Taking another shuddering breath, he forced all of his concentration and will to hold the construct. With a low grunt, he shoved the crimson red shield back against the beam and into the gun, shattering the gun into a hundred fragments of yellow and silver.

Razer dropped his arms with a satisfied sigh and turned back to see if the others were relatively fine. He felt his construct drift away as a deep feeling of exhaustion crept through his bones. He wasn't sure why, but maintaining that shield in the beam had been incredibly exhausting. His eyes lighted briefly on the reconverged group, but something twisted sharply in his gut when all three of them were staring back at him with horror—rather, staring at something behind him with horror.

"_Razer! Behind you!"_

Razer was barely able to turn before a bright light caught the corner of his eye. He could barely make out a bright yellow glow as the self-destruct function on the already destructed gun went into effect. The relatively whole canister which held the golden powder ignited, sending a powerful, yet short pulse of energy towards the young Red Lantern. In his exhausted state, he was barely able to conjure up a weak shimmer of crimson before the yellow beam washed over him in a startlingly warm light. He felt like he was being battered about in the golden maelstrom. Razer was vaguely aware of a deep burning sensation in his throat and a ragged hiss, which he belatedly realized was his own desperate gasping for breath.

_Not again._

_"Razer!"_

_ "Kid!"_

Razer could hear their anxious cries and shouts, but he was too weak and his throat stung too badly that he couldn't even call back to them, even if he had wanted too. Everything ached and he just wanted to close his eyes for a little bit.

He was only barely aware of someone's tight hand around his forearm as he felt himself slip into a blissful sleep.

* * *

The first thing Razer was aware of was the hushed, frantic whispers above him. After a moment of sluggish thought, he was finally able to place names with the voices. The human, Hal Jordan, the Sergeant, Kilowog, and the Artificial Intelligence, Aya. They seemed to be discussing something quite passionately, though every once in a while, one of the speakers would trail off and then there would be a beat of silence. After another moment of careful thought, Razer figured out that they were probably talking about him. The voices seemed worried, especially the lightest, yet semi flat female voice.

Though he told himself he really didn't care, the Red Lantern realized with a guilty twitch in his stomach that these people were all worried about when he would wake up. Deciding that he might as well get up to find food (for some odd reason, he was starving, though his throat still felt as though it were on fire), Razer slowly pried his slightly crusty eyes open.

Aya was the first to notice. Her green lips quirked into a relieved smile as she announced to the others that Razer was finally conscious.

"How do you feel, Raz—"

"Do you know how incredibly stupid your decision to stop the beam was!?" Hal interrupted the AI with a stern frown. Razer struggled to pull himself into a sitting position with some help from Aya. He opened his mouth to respond, but Hal barreled on in his lecture.

"What were you _thinking?!_ Jumping right in the middle of a dangerous beam after you knew what it would do. You nearly got yourself _killed!"_ Hal sighed, his worried anger breaking, "Sorry." The Green Lantern tried to smile. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is be careful next time. Usually it's me who does the stupid things."

Kilowog grinned beside Hal. "Yeah, kid, if you just wanted to blow yourself up, I would have been glad to help." Razer nodded once to show that he promised to never again throw himself willingly into the path of a deadly laser.

They were all huddled in the med bay. Out of the corner of his eye, Razer noticed a glass of water over on the far table. Razer swallowed dryly, wincing as the fire shot up and down his throat. Water would be perhaps the best thing imaginable for his inflamed throat. He opened his mouth and felt his lips move with the request to have water, but he heard no sound pour from his mouth. Razer frowned as his hands flew to the base of his neck. He tried to speak again, but nothing apart from a hoarse gasp was pulled from his throat. By then the others were starting to look worried again.

"Is everything okay, Razer?" Hal asked with a confused frown. "Do you need something?"

Holding his hands to his throat, Razer shook his head once to answer the questions, then once more to show that his vocal box had ceased to function. He glanced up at the others then back down with sagged shoulders.

Razer had lost the ability to speak.

* * *

I almost stopped it at the part where Razer was hit by the beam, but then I thought that we Fanterns had suffered enough today without needing _another_ painful cliffhanger.  
True story-I planned this thing with a beam before today's episode. And after seeing yesterday's episode, this chapter made me want to flip a table.


End file.
